THE BIG TEST
Suzuki’s V-strom 1050XT: GS capabilities for heaps less cash.
Suzuki are having a few issues at the moment. While rival manufacturers have conveyor belts delivering ground-breaking new bikes at regular intervals, Suzuki seem to rely on intermittently dressing up an old bike in retro clothes. First they put a brown seat on the SV650 and called it the SV650X, then they put some plastic on a GSX-S 1000 and called it Katana.
When I first clapped eyes on the new V-strom I feared Suzuki had pulled the same trick – retro cool bodywork from a time when they were true pioneers, and possibly not a lot else. But a closer look and a stiffer prod revealed that beneath the styling lay a whole new world of technowizardy and updated wotsits. Combined with the V-strom’s solidly effective underpinnings, this could mean the new 1050XT is the best value big adventure bike on the market.
We tour, thrash and commute it for 5000 miles to discover if GS buyers could have saved themselves thousands…
Engineandtransmission
Despite its new name the 1050XT’S motor is still 1037cc and the overall architecture remains unchanged. However, Suzuki have been hard at work fettling, predominantly to get it through the latest Euro5 emissions regulations. New cam profiles have altered the valve lift and overlap, resulting in a 6bhp boost to peak power (now 106bhp) and a drop of lb.ft of peak torque, to 74 lb.ft.
The result of all this engine finagling is a torque curve that now has shape, where previously it was pancake flat. On the road it feels more lively than the old unit, much happier to rev and with decent enough surge. Yet acceleration is never going to trouble the location of your eyes in their sockets, it is pulling 247kg of metal, rubber and plastic after all. But there is enough gusto to excite you, a willing passenger if you can locate such a person, or any passing ocer of the law. The V-strom excels on gently curving A-roads where you can shut off, coast down to the bottom of third gear, slip around the bend and thunder back out again confident the engine will pull all the way to its 9500rpm redline. However, it’s certainly not the most thrilling engine around and I can’t help but feel adding an extra tooth onto the rear sprocket might give it a touch more va-va-voom – albeit at the expense of a few mpg on the motorways. Bike’s ex-editor John Westlake has ridden thousands of miles on the previous generation machine as well as a fair few on the new one and agrees. ‘The old V-strom had a great road bike motor – it didn’t have a torque curve, it had a torque shelf bolted on at 70 lb.ft,’ says John. ‘The new one certainly hasn’t lost that pick-a-gear-any-gear flexibility and seems keener to rev but it’s a marginal improvement. I can understand why some riders regard it as a bit bland.’
John’s hit the nail on the head there – the new V-strom is just a bit vanilla. It gathers momentum well but in the face of charging, rip snorting competition it feels flat. That said, sometimes that’s fine; I don’t know about you but I don’t always want my inner organs relocating every time I open a throttle. Oh and one last note on the drive train – the gearbox is far from Suzuki’s finest hour. It’s clunky at the best of times and I’ve spent far longer in neutral than I ever intended to.
Handlingandride
Despite its adventure bike looks the V-strom is clearly more of a sports tourer than hulking globetrotter, and that’s how it feels on the road. Neutral, stable but plenty quick enough when you fancy it. It stops, turns and goes exactly like you might imagine a 247kg touring bike might.
The suspension is slightly on the stiffer side out of the box but that’s a personal preference thing, others don’t seem to have the same issue. The suspension is fully adjustable so I twiddled on it a bit and brought it around to where I want it pretty quickly.
A word of warning though – at slow speed it’s a bit of a handful. I might not be the tallest chap around but I’m used to big, heavy bikes and the V-strom still caught me out a few times. The V-twin engine means the weight is a lot higher up than most, so the slightest teeter off-balance and it’s gone.
Electronics
This is arguably where Suzuki have made their biggest leap forward. For a start the V-strom is now ride by wire and comes with a selection of riding modes. As it should in this day and age. There’s also an IMU which means there’s cornering ABS along with lean sensitive traction control (both of which can be adjusted). To go along with this there’s also Load Dependent Control (LDC), which adjusts the brake pressure front and rear depending on the loads, Slope
Dependent Control (SDC), which stops the rear wheel lifting going downhill, plus Hill Hold Control (HHC), which pops the back brake on for easy get aways on steep hills. The dash is new too and while it lacks the whizz bang full colour TFT offerings boasted by rivals, it delivers all the info in an easily readable fashion, which can’t always be said of TFTS. Last but not least on the electro-gadget list is every tourers’ favourite: cruise control.
All told the new kit works rather well, although it’s perhaps because I’m not an inveterate fiddler; I have zero interest in adjusting my traction control mid-corner, or dialling down the wheelie control to get myself arrested even quicker. After a few tries I set the throttle sensitivity, traction control and ABS all in the middle and they’ve pretty much remained that way for 5000 miles, without any dramas. Both the LDC and the SDC claim to work in the background and since I’ve not had any calamities while on the brakes, I can only assume they’ve done their jobs. The cruise and the HHC, however, are weirdly frustrating.
For a start the cruise only works in fourth gear and above, which is really too high for 30/40s where I often want to click on the cruise to avoid the three point treats that arrive in the post, with a £100 bill. It also won’t resume if you’ve slowed down and want to speed up again (for a roundabout for instance), so you have to set it again. This might sound nitpicky but if a cruise control is so much faff to set, it barely seems worth the effort.
The HHC also works well in principle except it only comes on when it wants – if the bike decides the slope isn’t steep enough it simply won’t activate. It also only works when in gear, then releases after 30 seconds after which it won’t reactivate, so if the lights still aren’t green you’re stuck on a hill attempting the Hendon shue.
Controls and comfort
If there’s any one area this Suzuki really shines it’s comfort. For a start the screen is excellent in either position both for me (5ft 6in) and John (6ft). In fact, it’s almost his favourite bit. ‘I absolutely love the screen,’ says John. ‘On the launch I wore a peaked helmet and I was apprehensive because it causes irritating buffeting on GSS, Multistradas, Africa Twins… everything. But not the V-strom. You can’t adjust the screen as you go along, but I never had to – it’s a whispering miracle on the highest and lowest settings.’
‘A close look reveals that beneath the styling lays a whole new world of technowizardy and updated wotsits’
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Both the rider’s seat and pillion receive high praise too, although the rider’s seat is on the taller side. The only complaint about comfort is that the handlebars are a little narrower compared with said GSS, Multistradas, Africa Twins etc, so I found it lacked the roomy feel. They’re not narrow, they’re just not very wide.
Practicality
And now onto more prosaic matters: the mirrors provide a decent view of what’s behind, while the various lights illuminate everything they should. The tank is 20 litres which gives a range of 230 miles to bone dry – there are two range warnings, one comes on at around 50 miles to go, the second at about 20 miles. The range indicator itself is remarkably accurate too, which is a rarity.
One of the neatest features is the little crossbar above the clocks, which provides a comfy space for mounting navigation devices. There’s a USB port next to the clocks too that puts out a full 2A, which is more than enough get-up-and-go to power a modern smartphone acting as a GPS.
There are plenty of luggage options available too – the two ocial Suzuki choices are moulded plastic that clip straight to the subframe, or adventurous alloy boxes that sit on a separate set of frames.
Qualityand nish
For a comparatively cheap bike, the fit and finish of all the parts is decent. Everything is nice to the touch and none of the plastics feel flimsy. A couple of bolt heads on the engine have started exhibiting the warning signs of corrosion, but some ACF50 diligence should keep the worst of that under control. The only really disappointing thing I have found to date are some of those god awful little centre-punch fairing clips that keep the plastics together. If we could get a campaign together to get these things banned I’m sure the world would be a better place.
‘For all its cool looks and big, for Suzuki, updates it’s just not quite as exciting as it should be’
‘In isolation, the V-strom is a good motorcycle. It does everything pretty well… The problem is it doesn’t exist in isolation’